Journal of

Introduction and purpose: Stress is an effective factor that influences physical and mental health status of elderly. This study aimed to identify determinants of stress among retired elderly.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among elderly attending to retirement centers in East Guilan. Convenience sampling method was used to collect 124 retired elderly. Data were collected using two questionnaires of aging stressors and demographic characteristics. Data analysis was done by descriptive statistics, paired T-test and ANOVA using SPSS version18.

Findings: Our findings showed that the most frequent stressor was empty nest dimension and women reported more stress in all aspects compared to their male counterpart. The economic situation showed significant statistical relationships with the following dimensions: despair (p<0.014), empty nest (p<0.045), and physiological problems (p<0.019).  People who reported their economic situation as "good (146.50 ± 23.692) also reported high level of stress. There were no statistically significant relationship between education and stress dimensions except physiological problems (p<0.038).

Conclusion: According to this study, the most frequent stressors was the empty nest dimension Therefore, special attention are required to control, manage and reduce stress among elderly, particularly women, to improve their health and quality of life.